


Changes

by J_Linz



Series: Revised To Be Original [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, Het, Love Triangles, Oral Sex, Original Character(s), Pregnancy, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-06
Updated: 2016-07-30
Packaged: 2018-07-21 20:51:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7404025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/J_Linz/pseuds/J_Linz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jasmine Lewis never expected to experience anything like this. One night, she drunkenly passes out in her bed beside her husband of thirteen years in the year 2016. But when she awakes, she realizes she is back in 1991 in her childhood home.</p><p>She realizes that whatever force took her back in time, wanted her to right what was wrong. But, she realizes too late she may have changed too much. Will Jasmine be satisfied with the choices she made or did the changes alter her future too much?</p><p>{A 2016 July Camp NaNoWriMo Project}</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Warp

                                                                            

 

I stumbled in and had no idea what time it was. Possibly late but I was in the mood to drink some more! The husband was already in the bed, snoring and oblivious to my drunken state. Which was a good thing; I was somewhat of a clumsy drunk and stumbled on nearly everything that was in my way!

I had no idea how but I made it to the bed after stripping of my clothes. Guess another drink would have to wait; now that I was there, I wasn’t moving! I sighed and tried to look at the new ring I had acquired that night; the live band was selling them, some sort of mood rings or something. For some reason, no one bought them; they were interested in the buttons, rubber bracelets, beer cozies and t-shirts. I bought one of each; they were my absolute favorite local band!

My vision became blurry… well, blurrier than it was before, as I tried to look at the ring. I remember thinking how pretty it was and weird that it changed colors every so often, something I wasn’t used to a mood ring doing! Maybe I was more drunk than I thought but I could’ve sworn that the damn ring was steadily changing colors as my eyes became like lead. I didn’t feel right. I wanted so badly to wake up Allen, to let him know that I felt funny. But I couldn’t keep my eyes open to save my life! When they shut, I felt myself fall into a deep sleep and hoped that I would be able to wake up.

I felt myself ease out of sleep. I had no idea how long I was out and was a bit afraid to open my eyes. My brain instead tried to concentrate on the music I heard. Music…? Was my phone ringing? I slightly groaned; no, it was the radio. Damnit; I had set the alarm wrong, again! There was no telling how long the damn thing went off; Allen and I both could sleep through a fire! He was late for work…

I stopped panicking when I realized two things. One: the clock in our room didn’t pick up any radio station… at all. Not even a hint of a signal; it was always white noise, no matter what. This station was crisp and clear. And, two: the deejay was boasting about it being the “number one station in Houston”. In… Houston…??

I immediately opened my eyes and blinked a few times. I was dreaming. I had to be! I was no longer in my bed along with my husband but… in my childhood bedroom back in Houston! I looked around: posters of a few of my favorite Oilers graced the walls, along with a few Rockets, the entire Cougars basketball squad and music artists. Peering through the bars that served as a ladder for the top bunk, I could see my cream dresser that housed my radio clock alarm, my boom box and my various school books. On the right was my large glass TV stand where the Super Nintendo, a bunch of books, a VCR and of course, the TV was.

Everything was too… vivid to be a dream. But, it had to be. I laid back down, telling myself that over and over again. Usually, when I realized that I was dreaming, I would automatically snap out of it. But… nothing happened this time. The radio still played, now going through the birthdays and reminded everyone of the mystery song that was coming up. I slowly opened my eyes. This… this wasn’t a dream. I either died, went to hell and was forced to relive my teen years or… I had somehow travelled back into time.

I slowly tried to study myself. My eyes were blurry all to hell; my contacts were gone. I searched for my glasses and gasped when I found them on top of a pile of clothes by the side of my bed; they were… my first pair of glasses. I was fourteen, again. I looked at my arms and hands. I was rail thin yet again. All of my tattoos were gone. Even my wedding bands and my anniversary ring; that noticeable tan line from wearing the rings after fifteen years of marriage had disappeared! I ran my tongue across my teeth; no more tongue ring.

I slowly got out of bed, expecting my brother to hop down from his top bunk. I glanced at the clock and slowly remembered: he was already on his way to school. I listened to the radio again; a song that I hadn’t heard in so long was playing and then the deejay went on about it being a new release. He went through his usual routine, telling listeners the date, the weather and the morning traffic. It was Friday, March 1st. Looking at my Houston Cougars calendar confirmed my initial fear: I would indeed be fourteen in four months; it was 1991. My brother’s birthday was tomorrow… and then I froze. Whatever force took me back in time? I at least had a clue as to **why** ; they wanted me to correct the past.

I didn’t look forward to going to school; I hadn’t been in school in over twenty years! I was painfully reminded why once I got there: the part of being bullied all because I was smart and didn’t have the latest fashion sense… or hairstyle. Instead of shying away, I held my head high. I was only going to be stuck for two days; might as well give my tormentors heart attacks! Everyone noticed the change and surprisingly, everyone kind of liked it. It made me wonder how this would change my future as well and I had hoped it would be for the best!

The next day arrived and my heart hadn’t thumped so hard in my life! I told my then six-year-old brother, Raymond happy birthday and promised him an awesome day.

The memory of what was supposed to happen that day made my blood run cold. I was to go over to my dad’s, who lived in the front of our apartment complex and beg him to take me to the mall. I would lie and say that I wanted to meet some friends there as well as pick up a gift for Raymond. But in reality, I would be meeting my boyfriend there. I would indeed buy Ray a toy but while Ivan and I decide to walk back to my house, he would suggest sneaking into the gym of a high school to “take a break”. I would be forced to lose my virginity there… and I planned for that **not** to happen!

So, when Ivan called, I immediately broke up with him. I could’ve gave him some type of excuse, saying that it wasn’t him, it was me or some bullshit. But seeing as though I would be back in 2016 in the morning, I said “fuck it” and bluntly told him: I’m not giving you any opportunity to rape me. This time, when I went over to daddy’s, I suggested that we both go and pick something out for my brother. My mom had taken him over our grandmother’s and they wouldn’t be back for a while. It turned into some sort of father/daughter deal and I even made my brother a cake; he told me I was the best sister in the whole wide world!

I was overly satisfied as I laid down that night. My brother had played himself stupid and was knocked out, clutching to the toy trucks I bought him. We had always had a solid relationship. But I felt that this little act would change things for the better. I smiled as I started to doze. There was a bit of a warm feeling to be back in time. To see people I hadn’t seen in ages, to see how healthy my mom and dad looked back then. To be back in one of my favorite neighborhoods. To stop the sexual assault that would haunt me for years to come. I had only hoped that the little that I did wouldn’t change a whole lot in my true present.

I didn’t hear any sort of alarm go off but I did feel the sunlight on my eyes. Oh, shit; I forgot to set the alarm clock, **again**! Allen was gonna kill me; he couldn’t afford to be late anymore! I popped up to shake him awake, to apologize profusely! But… he wasn’t there. I was still in that bunkbed, still in my childhood room. What…? How?! Was I… stuck? I thought I did what I was supposed to do; the only thing of significant regret from the other day was going with Ivan! I stopped that! Was I not supposed to?! Why the hell was I taken back in time, then?!

I sat there, silently panicking. To be fair, I didn’t know if there were any particular rules to this. Maybe there were other things I had to do before warping back to my present time. Still didn’t uncomplicate things. My mom popped her head in the door, to make sure that I was okay. I told her I wasn’t feeling well. When she made a snide remark about the cake I made, I shrugged it off and simply stayed in bed. What was I supposed to do, now? Well, the answer was definitely obvious: I had to possibly relive my teen years… something I had no plans of doing!


	2. Acceptance

It took a week to make me realize that I was indeed stuck in the past. I didn’t know how to take that. Well, guess I had no other choice but to relive my teen years! Since I was stuck, I took the opportunity to make more changes. I knew things that I hadn’t known back then and I put it to good use. I forced my mom to take me and my brother to the dentist and the doctor. I became aware of my eating habits and worked out regularly. I knew how to braid and put in weaves and while I was somewhat teased about wearing weaves now, it wasn’t as bad as being bullied about not having my hair done. In fact, there were a few girls at school who started asking me to do their own hair.

With that being said, I even changed the way I acted in school. Who would’ve thought that by just having a don’t care attitude would draw more people to you? By the time summer hit, I had more things to do than I could shake a stick at! When I wasn’t busy hanging out with people I never imagined would even speak to me, I concentrated on how to make even better grades… and my basketball skills.

Living in the past wasn’t so bad, now. Of course, I missed Allen terribly; I thought about finding a way to contact him. Then I realized that he was only ten at that point… and it weirded me out that if I had known him right then and there, it was a possibility that he and Ray would be play buddies; they were only four years apart! I tried not to think about that and relished in reliving the good moments as well as some new ones. I was even making some money on the side, doing hair!

Accepting the fact that I was stuck also made the time go back faster. I made the basketball team this time around and was better than I expected to be (doing a bit of homework on some plays and practicing them helped greatly). I opted not to get involved with any of the guys I had before, especially knowing that we would be moving to Nevada the next year, in 93. There wasn’t anything I could do to change that; I tried and tried to talk my mom out of not getting involved with Manny. But because I was a child, she wouldn’t listen. It was somewhat of a pain to know the things I knew and not be listened to.

Next thing I knew, we were indeed moving to Nevada, to that hole in the wall town. It actually hurt more than it did before; I left a **lot** more friends this time around! At least I didn’t leave a boyfriend behind; wasn’t as comforting but it felt fair. Moving to Nevada made me realize the other moments I would have there, the good ones… and the bad. With what I knew about how my relationship would end with Monica, I didn’t bother making friends with her or any of the other neighborhood kids. So to them, I was the “stuck up country bitch” that thought she was too good to be around them. That was fine: Monica would eventually prove my mother’s instincts right and the others wouldn’t be there for much longer as it was. The only disheartening thing was that I wouldn’t befriend Mr. Thomas, Monica’s dad.

Another dilemma appeared: my relationship with Nate. It was a curse and a blessing that I knew so much about things yet to happen. In the “original” past, Nate and I met during a spring break my senior year, a week before prom. He would eventually become my prom date and my first fiancé. I loved him so much that I turned down the scholarship that would take me back home to be with him… only to become absolutely heartbroken four years later. I had a chance to redo all of that, to do things totally different with him. I could possibly erase the heartbreak.

After considerate thinking, I got my wish. I altered my relationship with Nate and to me, it was the best thing I changed after breaking up with Ivan! With me so into my look, grades and basketball career… I decided to not have a relationship with him! It definitely was for the best; I couldn’t see any way to avoid the heartache that would endure.

So, yeah; senior year saw me as the most popular person in school. I was a starter for the basketball team, in the Honor Society, class president… and on track to be the salutatorian. Which was fine by me; before, I had graduated two hundred and something out of three hundred seniors! Instead of taking the ASVAB to go into the military, I took my SATs and ACT this time around, earning marks high enough to basically go to any college I wanted. I went from almost putting an ad in the paper for a prom date to having several choices lined up! I chose one of my dearest friends, Ed Sanders who sat in the back with me, Quincey and Damon in World History, acting a fool every day! That was something that I didn’t want to change; how the four of us would almost always get in trouble in that class (we still never got caught cheating on tests; it wasn’t our fault that the teacher would leave the answers on his desk and we were allowed in there during lunch)! Another thing that changed for prom: Ed was the one who took my virginity!

We were a surprisingly cute couple but we both knew that it wouldn’t last. I would be definitely going back home to attend the University of Houston, taking advantage of at least one free scholarship. There were no hard feelings about it; he was going to North Carolina, anyway but we said that we would always remain the best of friends.

I then realized what was happening. It was definite that I was going to college and not wasting thirteen years of my life in Fallon, NV. But that meant not meeting the other people that played a large part of half of my twenties: Evan and his wife, Regina; weird ass Pete, Lance and Stephanie… none of them. It was even possible that… I wouldn’t meet Allen. While I had an overwhelming feeling that my purpose of traveling back in time was to right what was wrong, I had a feeling that I may had went a bit too far with my changes!

But… I knew all about them. And there were quite a few relationships with others that I kept intact. So… things were truly up to me. I held onto my own fate. Because if things weren’t meant to be at all, I wouldn’t remember any of it. But as it stood, I thought about Allen a lot. I figured: whatever happened, all I had to do was come back to Nevada in seven years and make sure I was in the club on that faithful July 5th night! What could possibly happen to deter that…?


	3. Relocation

In the meantime, as scheduled, I graduated second in my class and accepted any and all scholarships to the University of Houston: that was including an athletic one! The only things I had to pay for were housing, books and food! My family was proud of me and I was too happy to be back home! I became roommates with two of my best friends from home, Sarah and Renee, who was already a sophomore at Houston. Not too many had left Houston after graduating so I was also reunited with a ton of others I had befriended before I moved, myself.

The Lady Cougars basketball program? Yeah, it wasn’t the best! But, at least I was playing college basketball **AND** earning a degree; I had little room to complain! My family was very supportive, attending every home game they could. I took the role of starting guard and cherished it, determined to make the team better. I knew it would be a team effort; but if they saw how determined I was, I figured they would get their asses in gear as well!

College life was easy, especially seeing that I technically already had experience (I took a jab at online courses after getting married and did fairly well)! But I was living my dream of attending college on campus. Granted, it was nothing like the movies portrayed it, even with me being one of the most popular and well known students there. There were no outlandish frat keg parties that lasted for days on end (there were parties to go to but they were only when there was some special event or something good happened. Any other time, it was just some get together with a few people; mainly the student athletes). I wasn’t disappointed; my time was nice and occupied with other things!

As far as my love life went, it was standard and drama free. Even though this was a new chapter in my revamped life, I had the knowledge of a nearly forty-year-old who had been through it all. I didn’t let anyone come near my heart and I let it known that I wasn’t looking for anything serious. I had my little flings here and there, even plucking a couple of guys from the men’s team who had the same mind frame. I made sure that I never dated two guys at a time as well as if I decided to go to a student athlete, he wasn’t a buddy of someone who I already had sex with. And, I was always protected; I knew these guys were sticking their dicks into anything that moved and I be damned if I was gonna get something from them!

Before I could blink fully, I was graduating from Houston with a degree in journalism. I had accomplished so much in those four years, it amazed myself! Making the Dean’s List all the time. Getting the Lady Cougars into the NIT my senior year **and** winning it! Even being named Miss University of Houston my last year there. But nothing compared to getting drafted into the WNBA! They had called me a sleeper pick, one who could become a quality role player at whatever team picked me. I went earlier than anyone anticipated though but I was determined to make the best out of it! I was at a stark disadvantage, however: everyone else who played my position towered over me! At only 5’4, I was the shortest woman in WNBA history to be drafted!

Being in Utah wasn’t so bad. Salt Lake City was surrounded by mountains so the weather was something for me to get used to. I would manage though, being a professional basketball player! True, the Starzz were nowhere near what the Utah Jazz had done in the past or even the present, and we didn’t get as much as the guys. However, I was finally close enough to touch and rub shoulders with one of my celebrity crushes: Jackson Daniels. He played for the Duke Blue Devils and the first time I saw him on TV, I was forever mesmerized! I followed his every move, something that was rare for me because I was a die-hard Houston fan. I found it funny that the Rockets did draft him however he only played one season before getting shipped to Utah. I adored him, still… and my new best friend, Charlotte knew it all too well!

Although we had just met, me and Charlotte took to each other quickly, along with a few other Starzz. We quickly started this routine of hanging out and drinking over each other’s houses. I thought that the night would be the same until Charlotte called me and told me that it would be just me and her. She pleaded for us to head out to this bar downtown. I actually could never say no to the girl, what with her big green puppy dog eyes! When I sighed and finally agreed, she damn near squealed and told me that I wasn’t going to regret it.

Now, Charlotte Knight was **supposed** to be my best friend! I thought I knew everything about her; she could say the same… except I never told anyone about the whole time traveling thing! Regardless, what happened when we walked into the bar took my breath away! Sitting down at the actual bar was Martin Walters… and Jackson Daniels. Now, Martin was indeed a fine specimen of a man but I was not a fan of… “dark chocolate”. I liked my men milk chocolate like myself… and Jackson was definitely that!

Charlotte pulled me over towards the two; I had found my feet stuck to the floor as I ogled Jackson! My heart thumped hard when the two looked at us, both smiling. Martin smiled a bit wider as Charlotte sat very, **very** close to him. I damn near died when he stroked her ear; all this time… and I knew for sure that she was gay!

When I tried to sit down beside her, she widened her eyes and actually shoved me towards Jackson! I blushed furiously as he continued to smile at me.

“Jack, this is my ‘sis’, Jasmine!” she cheerfully introduced. I knew that my hands were either really sweaty or that you could feel my heartbeat through them as we shook hands. He didn’t seem to notice so I took a seat beside him.

“I find it a bit ironic about your name… in more ways than one!” he flashed me a gorgeous smile. I melted. He was inches away from me. He smelled fantastic! And I was trapped within that light brown gaze of his! I blushed as I came out of my trance and realized what he said.

“Heh. I… never thought of that… until now!” I lightly laughed.

The four of us sitting at the bar was a bit of a blur. My mind reeled at so many things! One, Martin Walters was married; that was a well-known fact, especially seeing that his wife was one of the biggest supermodels in the world! But there he was, giving Charlotte his undivided attention and not being able to keep his hands to himself. The way she acted told me that this wasn’t the first time they had been together.

And of course, the fact that I was laughing, talking and joking with Jackson the whole time seemed like a dream! I think we even flirted with one another a bit. Couldn’t help feeling that, especially whenever he would say something, he would give me this… look. God… what if this was the real reason I was stuck? What if I was supposed to make all of those changes just so I could meet Jackson? Because things were playing out very nicely, just like the stories I would write about him. The man didn’t hesitate in accepting my offer to go back to my place!

All the way there, I thought: “this is it”. All those little childish stories I had about meeting him was slowly turning into a reality. But there was something a bit strange and off about it all. In my stories, Jackson was, well, if not romantic, at least lustful towards me! This Jackson was a bit… nonchalant. He never grabbed my hand or tried to sneak a feel in. And there was no sexual flirting from him; whatever he said could’ve been easily taken as small jokes from an overly nice man.

Regardless, there he was, in my home, sitting on my couch and I couldn’t complain about that! Maybe I needed to make the first move? I handed him a glass of wine as I sat beside him with mine. Not too close, though; I didn’t want it to be obvious! I was a bit let down as we continued to talk about random things; I guess I really did have to make the first move…

When he finished his glass, he gave me a delicious smile and my heart puttered away.

“Jazzy, I had a really great time tonight.”

“Yeah… me, too.” although I was screaming like a crazed fangirl on the inside, that last glass of wine loosened me up and I returned the smile. I hope he knew that I was down for whatever he wanted to do!

“I have to be honest with you, though. Your friend is trying to get us together.”

“Oh?” I downed the last of my wine. “I… honestly don’t know what to say about that! Except that I had no clue.” which was true. Jackson laughed a bit.

“She’s been telling me so much about you; it’s like I know you! And, you’ve proved her every bit of right just in these couple of hours,” his eyes gleamed at me. God, please say that he was eyeing me; drinking me in as I’d been doing the entire night! “You really are a great person but… you’re not my type. I’m so sorry.”

“… Oh. It’s… fine.” my heart dropped to the floor. I should’ve known that; in an article about him, he told the world what he looked for in a woman. I was too short. Couldn’t be mad at someone who towered close to seven foot preferring someone who didn’t have to stand in a chair to kiss him!

“I hate being like this but… you’re just a tad bit too short for me.” he confirmed.

“No, you don’t have to explain anything! I was unaware that this was a blind date!” I forced myself to laugh. Jackson chuckled.

“However, I would love to…” he paused. I raised my eyebrows a bit at him. Loved to what? Fuck my brains out in a one-night stand? Be fuck buddies? Because I was too short didn’t mean he had to not at least let me ride him into the night; I was perfectly fine with just screwing him! “… be friends.” he finally continued. Oh. I didn’t know why but I felt like crying. Instead, I smirked and nodded.

“That’s cool. We can be friends. Hey, I just realized I got an early day tomorrow. Hate to call it a night but…”

“Heh; I understand! We’re both sitting here like we have nothing to do in the morning! We’ll hang out later?”

“Of course!” I took our glasses and put them in the sink. I led him to the door, where he gave me yet another gorgeous smile.

“Wait; here’s my number…” he gave me his number.

“Thanks. I’ll give you a call later. Good night, Jackson.”

“Night, Jazzy.” he smiled and left. I should’ve known better. But, I caved in to my emotions. Instead of going to bed, I got back on the couch, curled up and silently cried.


	4. Crush

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the three day delay! I'm trying to post a chapter a day, seeing that it's a short story.

I didn’t know if I wanted to strangle Charlotte or cry on her shoulder! I did tell her that I knew about her secretly trying to hook the two of us up… and the fact that Jackson denied me. She felt absolute terrible yet furious. According to her, I was a great catch and Jackson should’ve been head over heels for me! I kept trying to tell her that I wasn’t anything special or his type. That made her even more furious and it took me thirty minutes to talk her out of telling him how she felt! She wanted to try to hook me up with someone else but I politely declined.

That first night with Jackson had gotten my hopes up a little. I knew for sure that we would at least kiss! But, no; I was too short for him. Was that the only thing wrong? Regardless, it made me continually curse my height; how I wished that was something I could’ve changed as well! I thought so much about it that it affected my professional career.

The practice that day was unusually hard; when I got home, I slumped down on the couch. After a while, I decided to try to take a nap there. The one thing I thought about was hanging out with Jackson… something that I hadn’t done as much since our first night meeting one another. He had kept true to the “just friends” and “hanging out” bit but I declined a lot more than I wanted to. Couldn’t help it; I had no desire in seeing him with a woman… or women all over him while I sat there! I thought of any and every excuse not to hang out as much with him.

I groaned as someone knocked on the door. I debated letting them knock; if it was any of the girls, they would’ve just let themselves in. Another knock and I dragged myself towards the door; the quicker I answered it, the quicker they would leave! Imagine my surprise as I looked up at Jackson! Another delicious smile graced my presence and I damn near melted!

“Wow, can’t believe you’re home!”

“Jackson!”

“Why do you insist on using my whole name…?”

“… Sorry. I’m… I’m really exhausted; can you com-”

“This won’t take long.” he actually let himself in! I shook my head and sighed but went back to the couch. He didn’t bother to sit; he just looked at me.

“What?”

“I just… I feel so stupid about this,” he sighed and looked at his feet. Huh; never would’ve thought that he had some sort of shy side to him. Jackson finally looked back at me. “Do you honestly like being just my friend?” he surprised me once more. I bit my lip as I looked past him. I should tell him the truth. No, I didn’t like being just his friend; I wanted to be more. But what good would that do? It would only push him away. And to be truthful: even though I was avoiding hanging out with him, I would rather be his friend than nothing at all.

“Of course. Why would you ask that?”

“I ran into Charlotte the other day. Well, she hunted me down! She was pretty pissed; said that you’ve been slacking and it’s my fault. Because I don’t want to be… more.” he explained. I… was going… to **kill** her! I **told** her not to go to him! I just gave him a wide-eyed stare before huffing and rolling onto my side away from him.

“Okay, Charlotte’s on drugs! She’s just mad that her little matchmaking skills failed! Don’t listen to her; if I didn’t want to be your friend, I would’ve said so.”

“Really? Because I get the feeling that you try to avoid me…”

“Okay now, **you’re** the one on drugs!” I yawned. I was caught off guard as Jackson pulled me so that I was looking at him.

“I can’t talk to you with your back towards me!”

“Fiiine!” I rolled my eyes. It made him chuckle and he finally sat down beside me. “I’ve just been busy, that’s all. I do play basketball, you know.”

“Not well ever since whatever came and got you distracted! Which, I don’t think it’s worth it.”

“Why are you so concerned about it…?”

“Um… I’m your friend? And I want to see you back to your normal self. And we’re going out this Friday; no excuses!”

“… We have a game…”

“Oh. Well… I’m going to keep bugging you until you run out of excuses!”

“Whatever.” I turned my body back around and was attacked by a series of tickles!

He was right, once I sat and thought about it. I had his friendship when in my actual present (could it be considered an alternative one, now…?), he had no idea that I existed. That made me more appreciative of the fact that we were friends. That and the fact that I could never say Jackson didn’t keep his word: he bothered the absolute shit out of me until I honestly ran out of excuses! I was glad that I did; hanging out with him proved to be some of my best times out and about! He instantly became a part of my small group of best friends. It was too bad that Facebook and Twitter weren’t invented yet; I would have a ton of pics of just us hanging out, with the “BFFs” hashtag and everything!

It wouldn’t be long after that I wouldn’t have time to think about being with Jackson romantically… because I would be pursued by someone else! The Bar Deluxe had become our favorite go to place, which was weird that the guys never got bombarded by fans! Charlotte and Martin took advantage of that; it was where they would meet in secret. I tried to warn her; she needed to slow down before she either ended up pregnant or his wife found out… or both! She gave me the usual dismissive wave of the hand and assured me that she knew what she was doing!

I tried to avoid them for the most part and stuck with Jackson. I started to get a bit tipsy and started thinking about him. He was simply gorgeous and sexy; best friend or not, I had to admit that! I’d never seen him dress sloppily, even if we just hung out at each other’s house! Always neatly trimmed, both his beard and his hair. And his cologne; a light fragrance that drew you closer to him. I had to get away from him to stop myself from suddenly kissing him!

“Getting a drink; want another one?”

“I got it.”

“What? No; your money’s no good here!” I smirked. He laughed as he put his wallet away.

“Fine but I don’t want anything right now. Maybe you should drink some water…” he suggested. I raised an eyebrow and then slowly leaned towards him, close enough to kiss him if I wanted to. His demeanor didn’t change so I just gave him a smirk.

“Maybe you should kiss… my ass!”

“Bend over. I dare you…” his response sent me in stitches. I shook my head and made my way to the bar. I watched as the lone bartender worked to get everyone’s orders; it had gotten extremely busy but that was common for the weekend!

“Two Budweisers.” I overheard someone who had just as deep of a southern accent than I had. Not common for Utah but I didn’t want to seem nosy so I didn’t look their way.

“Can’t have two drinks…”

“I know. The other one’s for her, in the red shirt.” I perked up and quickly scanned the area; who was the lady who got this guy’s attention? It was kinda sweet; I had never seen that happen except in movies! It didn’t dawn on me that the lucky lady… was me, until I found a Budweiser placed in front of me. I was indeed wearing a red shirt!

I would’ve gotten enough nerve to look at the guy but he made his way towards me. And I could’ve died right then and there! Standing in front of me was none other than Darren Ellerbee. Yes, NASCAR’s Darren Ellerbee, III! It was weird to see him so young, knowing that I was supposed to be nearly forty and he was five years older than me. But, he was another one of my celebrity crushes! Not as deep as Jackson but he was a damn good looking man! The epitome of the “All-American boy next door”, Darren was a blue-eyed, blond-haired fox! Tall and muscular, he looked more of one those Texan eat, sleep and shit football quarterbacks rather than a Kentuckian NASCAR driver!

I could do nothing but smile at him; not as tall as Jackson so I only had to look up at him slightly.

“Thanks.”

“My pleasure. I’m Darren, by the way.”

“Jasmine.”

It was like we were on a date! Darren didn’t leave my side! While my heart skipped beats when I first laid eyes on Jackson, this was a totally different feeling. I could feel the attraction from Darren. It was definitely mutual! When Jackson and I were alone that first night, he didn’t come near me. Darren tried to go out of his way to touch me as we talked and drank; whether it was a slight caress on my arm or a quick wrap around my shoulder! It didn’t offend me in the least; I warmed up to his every touch.

I blushed as he kissed my hand when he got up to go to the restroom. It didn’t go unnoticed that Jackson and Charlotte were eyeing the two of us the entire night; I rolled my eyes slightly as they made their way to the table me and Darren shared.

“So… who’s the white boy?” Jackson asked. I didn’t know whether to be upset or embarrassed; a mixture of both set in as I blushed hard. “What?!” he noticed.

“Why does it have to be like that?” Charlotte asked for me. Jackson shrugged.

“Is he Mexican? Noo!”

“I wouldn’t mind him; think he’s jealous!” I eyed Jackson. He didn’t give me his usual laugh; only sucked at his teeth and took a swig of his beer.

“Whatever.”

“He’s a bit… touchy-feely, huh?” Charlotte asked with a gleam in her eyes.

“Well… I ain’t complaining! I like it. He’s just… affectionious…”

“… That’s not even a word. You’re drunk; we should go. I really don’t like the way he’s clinging to you…” Jackson confessed. I feigned shock and dramatically placed my hand over my neck.

“‘We’? Oh, I’m sorry; I was unaware that ‘we’ were on a date, now…”

“Fine! It’s obvious that you’re too drunk to realize that we care about you!” his eyes widened as he playfully snapped. Charlotte and I roared with laughter as he finished his beer. I threw my arms around his shoulder and smiled widely.

“If you’re jealous, just say you’re jealous!”

“I’m not jealous!”

“Whatever you say! Either way, me and Darren are staying here.” I nodded.

“So, what does Mr. Darren do?” Charlotte asked. I was seconds away from asking how they didn’t know who he was! Then I remembered that he had barely made his mark in NASCAR; die-hard fans knew who he was and it was only because of his dad. I had no idea if those two even knew what NASCAR was (although, in a few years, Jackson would become an analyst for ESPN and finally get to meet Darren because they both root for the same NFL team).

“He’s a NASCAR driver.” I told them as though I was proud of it. In a way, I was; Darren would become the most popular driver in a couple of years and it wouldn’t be because of his dad.

Their laughs clarified that they at least knew what NASCAR was! It was the usual response from non-fans; either that or the joke about left turns!

“And… she said it like she’s so proud of it!!” Charlotte roared.

“Can’t wait for the family dinner!” Jackson joined in and the two were nearly in tears from laughter. It was another stigma that NASCAR was filled with nothing but racist, redneck bigots (later proven that it was the corporate offices who were like that, not the drivers, themselves). It didn’t matter; the two didn’t even have the damn decency to stop as Darren came back. He eyed them funny but I pushed Charlotte out the way so I could get to him. I grabbed his hand suddenly and I blushed as he immediately wrapped his fingers around mine.

“Let’s sit somewhere else; obviously this table’s been taken!”

“Jazzy, don’t be like that! Come on! We’re sorry!!” was the last I heard from Jackson but he was still busy laughing.


	5. Angel

This was no ordinary fling. Hell, it wasn’t even a fling! It was love at first sight with the two of us and we couldn’t stay away from each other! He was in town for a race and needed to wind down somewhere. He said that he already knew of me but it was vaguely; I was no Lisa Leslie or Cheryl Swoopes! But he told me he had been watching me all night and was glad that I made my way to the bar.

Charlotte was a bit giddy about the relationship; she saw that I was genuinely happy and that made her content. It was Jackson who had the problem, oddly. He kept telling me that I was moving too fast with him and that he didn’t trust him. Whenever I asked for specifics, he would never tell me. “I just do” was always his answer. I didn’t know what was going on with him but I damn sure wasn’t buying that excuse!

It was a shame that this never happened before; I had no idea if I should’ve heeded his words or not! You couldn’t tell my heart that; after three months, Darren and I were more than comfortable telling each other “I love you”. Was it too early? Maybe. But it felt so right! And besides, he was exceptional in the bed!

We felt that it was high time I met his family… well, more like I was getting forced to meet his family. He told me that he couldn’t stop talking about me at least in front of his dad and one day, he **ordered** Dee to invite me over for dinner. Our season was over with so I had the free time to travel. I was nervous as I landed in Kentucky. Part of it was because I would be meeting Darren’s family. The other? In three days, his dad would be dead.

Anyone else in my position would’ve done so much to be able to have some sort of financial security. Like buy stocks in something or create things before their original creator. Bet on sports games. I just felt that it was bad enough I was tampering with my own time line! How did I feel tampering with the fate of others? What if things were meant to happen? I would feel awful if I sat there and just… let it happen. I thought about what **could** I do, in all honesty? For years to come after his death, people said that the only things that would’ve saved him were a better helmet and harness; they redesigned the harnesses a year after his death and the redesign for the helmets came two years after that. So, saying something would possibly have his family look at me like I was a freak. I was at a crossroads.

By the time I was introduced and warmly accepted, I made the decision to try to throw out some sort of hint. If Mr. L didn’t catch on or decided not to listen… then he would’ve sealed his own fate, not me. He had asked me to join him on the porch after a great dinner. He gave Darren an evil look when he tried to join; with that, he immediately went right back into the house! I smiled nervously as he offered a beer.

“You drink beer?”

“Yes… but…” I couldn’t help frowning at the can of Busch. “I really don’t like Busch.”

“Good; you speak your mind,” he smiled at me. Mr. L rummaged through the cooler and offered me a bottle of Budweiser. “Only used to doing this with his sisters’ boyfriends. Can’t tell you how many of ‘em would take whatever I gave ‘em. Knew right then and there, they weren’t worth a pile of shit!” he took a sip of his beer. I popped mine open and did the same, giggling. “So, you should know that I look out for the well-being of my children…”

“Yes, sir.” it was weird. He scared me shitless but at the same time, I was a bit comfortable around him.

“I know that they’re grown but well, we’re the Ellerbees. Gotta make sure that they ain’t bringing anyone in who’s out to do ‘em dirty.”

“Understandable.” I nodded. He looked at me and gave me another smile.

“So, I usually like to meet folks before we invite them over for dinner like this. But, Darren talked about you nonstop and… then moment I laid eyes on you, I liked you. You’re different; you’re respectful but not because you wanted to impress me. I can tell that’s how you were raised. A bonus that you’re southern! From Texas but hey, we all have our flaws!” he joked and I laughed. I had heard it so many times and never took it seriously. I was proud to be a Texan and no one could make me feel any different! “Has Darren invited you to watch him race?”

“… No.” it dawned on me that he never did. Again, I had to pretend that I didn’t know him as well as I did so he probably thought that NASCAR didn’t interest me.

“Well, I’m inviting you to watch the both of us this weekend! You free?”

“Yeah. I’d love to watch you two,” I gave him a genuine smile. He nodded and we sat in silence for a while. “You… be careful Sunday…” I muttered. It was the lamest clue anyone could give but I couldn’t think of any other way to say it!

I expected… I had no idea what to expect. Definitely not the look he gave me, a serious one as he studied me.

“You getting bad vibes about Sunday?” he asked a bit grimly. I fiddled with the neck of my beer bottle.

“I… I don’t know. Maybe,” I finally looked at him. “… Yeah. I am. Just… be careful. Don’t… don’t be so willing to take the lead when you think it matters…” okay, a bit more than giving out a hint! I left it at that and was glad that he looked as if he was soaking it all in before taking another swig of beer.

Darren had no clue that I would be there until I showed up before the race started. He gave his dad a surprised look but put his attention towards me. I smiled widely.

“He invited me… something you should’ve done!” I playfully poked him on his side. He smirked.

“Didn’t think you were interested in racing…”

“I’m interested in you and this is what you do. It’s a total package deal.”

“Hmm; true.” those blue eyes gleamed at me. Before I knew it, he had his arm wrapped around my waist. Darren pulled me into a loving kiss, one that had me melting. I gathered my composure enough to smile at his steadily reddening face.

“Have fun out there.”

“Fun? Darling, this is racing!”

“This is war…” I accidentally said it with him; it would be his trademark saying. It didn’t freak him out; Darren’s smile widened and he gave me another leg wobbling kiss.

“This is why I love you.” he breathed as our foreheads touched. Damn; if only he didn’t have a race to enter; when he got like that, a minute later, we’d be naked and wrestling in between the sheets!

“I love you, too. You best be going…”

“I suppose. See you in a bit.” he caressed my chin as if he debated on another kiss. He better not; he wouldn’t make it to his car! Darren smiled and simply left, giving my heart a chance to beat normally!

It didn’t take long for it be racing once more. Things were going as planned at Talladega however I wouldn’t know if Mr. L would heed my words until the last lap. In my former past, him and Walter Dustin would be dueling for first. Mr. L, forever the aggressive driver, would push and try to cut Walter off, in turn provoking him to push him into the wall. The problem would be that Mr. L would hit the wall head on, instantly snapping his neck and killing him.

It all played out in slow motion. The two were neck-to-neck, vying for first. I couldn’t hear anything except the rapid beating of my heart. I held my breath when Mr. L started to push more for the lead. No; he didn’t listen to me! A tear escaped before I could stop it; he was going to die. I tried so hard to warn him but it was all for nothing. I couldn’t watch it, not in person.

The crowd gasped and I knew he had hit the wall; I heard it. I forced myself to look… and my tears flowed. He hadn’t hit the wall head on but… sideways. He still continued to race and placed third. And my tears wouldn’t stop.

Darren tried to figure out why I was crying as hard as I was when I caught up with him afterwards. I had no idea how I made it down there, I was shaking so hard! Mr. L ran up to us and immediately grabbed me. He hugged me as tight as he could, his chest heaving as he silently wept.

“I don’t know how you knew. But you saved me. Thank you…” his choked up whispers made me cry more. I had no idea how long we held each other but Mr. L finally let me go and looked dead at Darren. “You better hold on to this one; she’s a damn angel!” he didn’t hide the fact that he was crying. And, that was our little secret between the two of us.


	6. Messenger

Another year had gone by before I knew it. As luck would have it, me, Charlotte and Jackson ended up in San Antonio; the Starzz’s owner decided that he didn’t want the team anymore and put them up for sale. No one bit until the last second and our new owner moved the team to San Antonio. Jackson was traded to the Spurs maybe a week or two later. We were now the Silver Stars.

I was still with Darren and it looked as though he was the one. I was extremely happy with him and the realization of that made me a bit sad. Because there was no reason to break up with Darren just so I could be with Allen. How would it work out? Was I to retire from basketball, move back to Fallon and become a Navy wife? No; it made no sense, no matter how much I loved Allen. I loved Darren the same, now.

Just as I did with Mr. L, I decided that I would at least warn Allen about his future choices. That meant spending the 4th with my mom and brother. Of course, they didn’t mind it; they hadn’t seen me in a while! My mom had, of course, remarried; she never heeded my advice and so she went through her life the way I remembered it. I didn’t mind this step dad; Reginald had always been head over heels for my mom and he was living out his dream!

It was Raymond whose life had changed for the better. I was so proud as I looked at his numerous trophies, medals and articles about him. He was the star basketball player and track star at the high school. He would graduate next year and had offers to sign for quite a few big name colleges.

I was glad that mom at least listened to me when it came to my brother. His health had improved greatly and he was in good shape, mentally and physically. He didn’t slack in school due to being an athlete; his grades were outstanding. One thing that didn’t change, though: his love for video games! He paused the game and looked at me.

“What?” I blinked.

“That’s what I want to know! This is a surprise visit.” he noted. I sighed as I closed the door.

“So, you know that I’ve been a bit… strange these past few years…”

“… Yeeah. I’m glad you brought it up so that means you know. It’s like you have… premonition or something.”

“What if I told you that… I do?” I asked carefully. Raymond thought about it and then smirked.

“Seriously…?”

“It’s more like… I traveled back in time, somehow…” I sighed out.

“Okay; I liked the premonition story better than this one!” he actually laughed. When I didn’t crack a smile, he stopped laughing. “You’re… serious. You actually believe that…”

“No, I **know** I did. I just… don’t know how I did it. Ray, you know me; you know when I’m goofing around.”

“Yeah… which makes this conversation so weird…” he turned the video game off and sat down on his bed. “I want to believe you.”

“So, it was 2016 and I… well, I was drunk and ended up passing out beside my husband, Allen in Michigan.”

“Michigan? So, you end up playing for the Shock?”

“No. I didn’t play basketball in that… life. I was just a simple housewife. And besides, at that moment, they’re the Tulsa Shock. Never went to college or anything like that. But, when I woke up… I was back in 1991. So… I know stuff that I’m not supposed to know.” I tried to explain. It sounded crazy, now that I thought about it. And I wouldn’t blame him if he had just played along with it, only to later forbid me to come visit ever again! I was shocked when he simply stared into space and nodded.

“It makes sense, now. You were always one step ahead of everything. Momma always hated that you were right about everything!”

“She’s the reason why I didn’t tell anyone.”

“So… now, what? You’re gonna warp back to your present and see how it’s changed?”

“I… I don’t know how. At first, I thought I had to just change a certain thing. You know, like ‘Quantum Leap’? But, I’ve been… stuck since 91. So, I made more changes. And now? Well, tomorrow tonight was when I was supposed to meet Allen. We’d get married next year.”

“Wow! Um… so, seeing that you’re with Darren, now… I take that’s not gonna happen!”

“Exactly!” I laughed a little.

“Then… why are you really here?”

“I… I have this urge to tell him something. Because he fucked up his military career; maybe I just want to warn him against that. As much as I want to tell him the absolute truth… he’d think I was fucking insane!”

“The only reason why I believe you is because it makes so much more sense, now. You seriously knew things before they happened. You knew that I would get… sick. In your present, did I ever get better?”

“Yes and no. You eventually stopped having the seizures but… there were other things that came up.” I stopped there. He didn’t need to know that in my former present time, he would need a heart transplant. That he never finished school and couldn’t find decent work to support his children and wife. That me and Allen were the ones who did so while everyone else turned their backs on them. Raymond nodded once more and looked around his room.

“You know… maybe it really was meant for you to just have some sort of reset. Honestly? Without it, I probably wouldn’t have all of this,” he nodded towards his trophies and medals. “I think that you can change Allen’s life even if you’re not a part of it.” he smiled at me. I beamed at him and gave him a hug.

I would’ve said that I remembered the night like it was yesterday. However, in my former past, I was drunk and high out of my mind the night I met Allen! That night had been a bit of a blur; I didn’t even remember his name until the third time we hooked up!

But the scene was really familiar and I **did** remember a few parts of that night. This time around though, there were a few people who knew me. Which was surprising in itself; I was still only a mediocre basketball player. I signed a few autographs and took a couple of pictures before I made my way to the bar. Sure enough, there was a very young and baby-faced Allen sitting at the bar with his water. Something did somersaults in my stomach; my instincts wanted to shower him with hugs and kisses! I had forgotten how young he had looked when we first met and I could do nothing but smile at him. Allen, on the other hand, did a double take and slightly gawked at me! Heh; even **he** knew who I was! I sat down beside him.

“You’re… Jasmine James, aren’t you?” he would never know how great it felt to hear his voice after all of those years! That voice and face haunted me in my sleep a great deal before I met Darren. I smirked and nodded.

“You’d be correct.”

“This might seem weird but… what are you doing here?”

“I’m… kinda from here. Now, it’s my turn to ask a weird question! Could we… go to your car to talk?” I figured that the best way to do things was to just be straightforward about it! Of course, Allen gawked even more before he meekly nodded. I made sure that we were out of ear shot as we walked towards his car. “I… I need you to promise me that no matter what, you won’t run away and you’ll try to listen.”

“… Okay but I’ll be honest: you’re starting to freak me out!” he slowed down a bit. He wrinkled his forehead. “How did you know where I…”

“Believe it or not, I know a lot about you, Allen.” that made him stop dead in his tracks.

“H-H-How…”

“Would you believe me if I told you that I was psychic?”

“… I don’t know…”

“Well, can we go with that for right now?”

“If you’re psychic… tell me some things, then.” he had no idea the can of worms he just opened! I sighed a bit and smiled at him.

“You’re from Arkansas…” I started but Allen just smirked and pointed to the Razorbacks front license plate on his car. “But you were born in Maryland. So you root for the Redskins,” I continued and his mouth started to drop. “Even though, I never understood that; I always thought you should’ve been a Baltimore fan.”

“Wait… what do you mean by that? You never understood…?” I couldn’t believe I let that slip out! I shrugged.

“You were born in Maryland, not D.C. Would’ve made more sense to be a Ravens fan. But, again; guess because you were born closer to D.C. than Baltimore…”

“The hell…” his eyes widened. It looked like he was more intrigued than afraid! I laughed a little.

“I could tell you more, if you still don’t believe me. You have three sisters but you’re the baby; you were one of those babies that ‘snuck up’ on their mommas! So, your sisters are a lot older than you. You have this scar that runs up your…” I stood right beside him for a moment, looking down at his legs which were covered. “Right leg; you were in a car accident with your best friend and your cousin.” there was so much more I could’ve told him. His social security number, his birthday, of course; the fact that he has a massive family on both his mother and father’s side, and the reason why he went into the Navy. I waited until Allen decided to speak.

“What… you were sent here, then. Why…?”

“To keep you out of trouble. It’s the unit you’re in; they’re giving you a hard time,” with that, his mouth gaped wide before he looked away. “I know, it’s hard to ignore them. And it’s fucked up what they’re doing. Especially seeing that you’re doing your job and not bothering anyone. But, you need to say something about it now. And… don’t try to get help from a bottle…” I almost teared up. Allen’s career in the military would be jeopardized greatly in three weeks, where he would decide to try to drink all of his troubles away. He would try to call me, to see if we could hang out and have sex but wouldn’t get through… because he dialed the wrong number. At the end of the night, he would end up losing his car, almost his life and invoke the ire of his racist superiors. The only thing that stopped them from kicking him out of the Navy was because it was his first serious offense.

I was surprised that we stayed out there for the rest of the night, talking about random things. He was more interested in finding out how I truly knew everything; I knew that I told Raymond that I would tell Allen the truth. I just couldn’t. There was no way that he would’ve believed me.

I was just happy that Allen promised to take heed to my words. We exchanged numbers and went our separate ways. A part of me cried on the inside; it was ironic that the first time I saw him would possibly be my last. That, and I decided to let him go. The man who had been a part of most of my adult life, wouldn’t be in this one. But I knew that I loved Darren and this was the right decision. Allen would make someone else just as happy as he had made me.


	7. Argue

I couldn’t believe that Darren and I had been together for almost two years. My predictions were right; he steadily grew to be his own man. He was no longer “L’s son” or “Little L” but simply Darren Ellerbee, III… who dated Jasmine James! If anything, he was the reason why I became more well known. I had no problems with it, either way. I was with a man I truly loved and I was playing basketball; there were no complaints from me!

It didn’t stop others from voicing their opinions, though. Everyone was expecting to see some sort of engagement ring on my finger after all that time. But, I knew that it would never happen. In an article in the near future, Dee would stress how he hated the idea of marriage. In my alternate past, I was glad he felt that way; that meant there wouldn’t be any bimbo ruining my crush! But, right then and there? Well… how could I complain when it was proven that he loved me? Mr. L started voicing his own opinion louder every time I came to visit. He went from slyly asking what the holdup was to blatantly holding my hand up in front of Dee, joking that I didn’t wear my ring that day!

It felt like we were already married. He still had his home in Kentucky and so we would flip flop between his place and mine. I had some spare things in his house and he had a spare key to mine; it was nice to come home and there was a half-naked man in my bed! Yeah, I had to admit that it would’ve been nice to have that ring on my finger, eventually becoming Jazzy Ellerbee. But, if he was happy with the way we lived, then I wasn’t going to push it.

At least, that’s what I had thought. Things started off as a regular night for the two of us. For some odd reason, we had this ritual of edging each other the entire day. When night came, well… so did we! The whole buildup made it really enjoyable.

I stopped grinding in his lap to feel him throb madly between my legs. I had a feeling that we wouldn’t make it off the couch and prepared to simply reach my hand down in his pants. The look that he gave me changed my mind. I smirked as he simply smiled at me.

“What?”

“I just had the craziest idea…”

“Yeah? Am I gonna need a safe word?” I asked and it put him in stitches.

“You’d probably enjoy that,” he shifted slightly; I had a feeling to give me a clue as to how hard he was. “No, I was just thinking: maybe it’s time we tried for a kid.” even though he shrugged, Darren had the straightest of faces. He was serious. I could do nothing but look at him before I laughed a little.

“I find it funny that everyone else wants us to get married and here you are trying to get me pregnant!”

“W-Wait… you wanna get married…?” the nervousness in his voice didn’t go unnoticed. I didn’t know why it bothered me but it did. I tried not to let it show as I gave him a shrug of my own.

“Do you?” I simply asked. I already knew that answer. However, Darren sighed and gave me a kiss.

“You know I love you, Jazzy…”

“Just not enough to marry me.” I huffed out accidentally. He widened his eyes a little.

“Baby… don’t make it seem like that way. ‘Cuz that ain’t true. I… I just don’t think that a piece a paper, a couple of rings and a name change would make any difference.”

“You don’t think that it’ll make a difference… or do you think it would change us?” I glared at him. So, I was good enough to marry in my alternate past but not in this one? The more I sat there, the more I regretted changing things. So, when he didn’t answer, I got up.

“Wait! Jasmine,” Darren immediately came after me, gently grabbing my wrists. “You really wanna get married?”

“Do you think that it’ll change our relationship?” I barked back. His response was to simply hug me. I should’ve fought him off but he just felt so good.

“I’m sorry; I do feel that way. When folks start talking about marriage… to me, it just complicates things. Like what it’s doing now.” he tried to explain. I gasped and pushed away from him.

“So, I’m complicating things!”

“No! Wait, that’s not…” he took in a deep breath. “I love you with all of my heart and soul, Jazzy. It’s just… I don’t know of anyone who’s happily married. No one. And they were as happy as larks before.”

“… No one?” I raised my eyebrows at him. He smirked; he knew who I was referring to.

“You ever seen my dad and my step mom be around each other for more than fifteen minutes?” it didn’t dawn on me until he mentioned it. How could I forget the riff between Darren and his step mom? Why did I think that altering Mr. L’s fate would change the way she treated them? So, she made everyone miserable.

I opened my mouth to counter argue but immediately closed it. He was right. I didn’t know anyone who was happily married either… except me and Allen. But even we had our moments where we wanted to strangle one another! But still; I enjoyed being called “Mrs. Lewis” and not “Miss James”.

“I guess not…”

“Seriously, Jasmine: if you want to get married, let me know.”

“No, you’re right.” what good would it do? If he didn’t want to get married but I did, that was the main ingredient for a breakup. And I definitely didn’t want to do that!

“I’d never want to complicate what we have. I love you too much. Besides; dad wouldn’t allow for it!” he laughed a little. Ever since that day in Talladega, Mr. L referred to me as his angel. He told Darren that I was sent from Heaven and if he fucked up what we had, he would have his hide!

“I guess we’re stuck with each other, then.”

“I got no problem with that!” his hands went around my waist and pulled me closer to him. No sooner had I wrapped my arms around his neck, he gave me a tender kiss. It was very close to the first time he kissed me: gentle, tender and full of love.

“Guess we’re gonna try to make this baby…?” I smirked. Darren chuckled.

“Anything you want…” he gave me another kiss. Yeah, anything except marriage.

I knew I shouldn’t beat myself up about it; I had Darren Ellerbee. He didn’t give me much time to think about it as our kiss got deeper. I was pressed against him hard; I felt him throb a bit. His hands cupped my bottom and I gasped as he lifted me. I wrapped my legs around him as he carried us to the bedroom. I was shocked; I knew for sure that we would end up on the couch!

We both laughed as we clumsily collided in the bed.

“That shit looks so easy in the movies! You okay?”

“I’m fine.” I giggled. Darren moaned out a sound of approval before our lips met once more. My heart was racing. Of course, we had sex plenty of times. But this was going to be different. There would be no condom in the way; for the first time, I would feel… him. His hands made their way to the sides of my panties; I lifted so that he had no problem taking them off and he did so slowly.

Darren finally broke the kiss and I shuddered as I felt his lips on my neck. They were there for only a short while before his hands went underneath my shirt to pull that off. He gazed at me for a moment, his blue eyes roaming everywhere. My eyes landed on his crotch, where his cock throbbed and moved about in his briefs. His hands spread me wider as his thumb immediately caressed my clit. His touch was so gentle; I knew that he could feel my pulse there! I whimpered and moved along with his slow motions. I tried to get him to quicken his pace but he didn’t bite. Darren was content in torturing me! Even as I arched my back, it was like he was ignoring me. In fact, he took the other hand and held me down. I had no other choice but to suffer through the antagonizing pleasure.

It was when I finally gave in to him that I realized that his touch was amazing. My climax was slowly building as my legs trembled slightly. This was no good; I would be done before we started!

“D-D-Darren… stop…” it took all of my might to say anything! He immediately stopped but gave me a curious look.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. I tried to calm my heart, cursing myself for making him stop. He slowly smiled at me. “Oh… you’re about to cum…?”

“Y-You couldn’t tell?!”

“Just wanted to hear you say it,” he removed his hands from me long enough to strip bare. He stood straight out, his slit glistening. I never could understand why that sight made me tingle so much. All I knew was that I couldn’t wait to feel him inside of me. Darren’s thumb went back to those torturous slow circles and I moaned. “Maybe you could give me two tonight?”

“Doubt it…” I stuttered. This time around, I kept my mouth shut as he tried to make me explode. Just when I thought I would, his thumb was replaced with the tip of his cock. I took in a breath as if I was a virgin, anxious on penetration. The sensation of actual skin sent a jolt through my veins as Darren moaned deeply when our hips met. My God, that felt wonderful! I arched against him to feel more but he reluctantly pulled away. Darren hissed and swore, right before suddenly slamming into me. My whole body pulsated as a sharp gasp escaped me. He wrapped his arms around me as he began a steady thrust; I wrapped my legs around his waist in response.

I didn’t understand how not using a condom felt a thousand times better with him. Then again, in this alternate reality, it was the first time I never used one. I felt every ridge, bump and vein as we worked one another to our finishes. After a while, it was me who did most of the work as I rotated my hips against him. I didn’t know how long we were at it once my body started aching. I shook with every movement; my orgasm was closing in quick. Darren’s breath came in pants with every inward thrust and before long, he gave me a hard, hot kiss. My orgasm leapt out as my body succumbed to violent quivers. When he came, his movements slowed to a near halt as he moaned in my mouth. His cock throbbed hard as he filled me; the feeling made me moan along with him. After that, my body felt like jelly as I relaxed completely.

Darren finally released our kiss and his body became heavy on top of me. His breathing was still ragged as he blew a shaky breath.

“… Fuck…” he breathed out. After a while, I could breathe as he lifted up slightly. “That… was awesome. I’m… still cumming…” he chuckled as he gave me a lazy thrust. My body released one last tremor from that and I moaned in agreement. He stayed inside me for a while before he finally pulled out.

“Bet we made a mess!” I sighed. Darren laughed but I saw that he left and returned with a towel. We laid in the bed after getting cleaned up, cuddling one another.

“Yep; no more condoms for us!” I was actually tired and could only give out a chuckle at that. “And I guess… we need to argue more often?”

“Oh, fuck you…”

“Give me about four hours and then you can,” Darren gave me a smirk. I narrowed my eyes and pinched him. He laughed and held me tighter as he kissed me on top of my head. “I’m sorry, by the way.”

“It’s okay.” I yawned and nuzzled into him. I was too tired to think of it. There was no need to spoil the feeling of sleepy bliss as I closed my eyes.


	8. Truth

It was a big step we were trying to take. One that we decided would be casual at first. There wasn’t gonna be any tracking of ovulations or anything like that. The first step was to ditch the condoms! So, if I got pregnant, I got pregnant. We both figured that maybe after a year if it didn’t happen, then we would go through the other necessary steps.

I didn’t tell Charlotte any of this; she had loose lips and her and Jackson were suddenly buddies! He was still sulking over the fact that I was with Darren. It was almost as if he truly was jealous. It kind of put a damper on our friendship, something that I never wanted to happen. And Darren didn’t understand it as well. We tried numerous times to invite him and Charlotte over. Most of the time, he refused. Whenever he did show up to hang out with us, it was short-lived. There was always some sort of excuse given for him to leave early. If it was just me, though? Jackson was over at the drop of a dime and damn near spent the night!

Those were the times where I swallowed my pride and talked to him about my relationship. Especially about Darren not wanting to marry me. “Sounds like he got something to hide. Told you I don’t trust him, Jazzy!” Then again, I was asking for advice from another guy who wasn’t keen on marriage… and possibly fidelity! At that point, Jackson already had two kids by two different women; I knew that in my other life, his total count stopped at five. It was a lost cause!

Other than that, things stayed the same. I hated to admit that it looked as though my basketball career was about to end. I was never a starter, except in high school and college. But I was a mediocre player and knew that I wouldn’t last too long in the WNBA. Still didn’t stop me from making friends and hanging out with them. The ritual that started in Utah continued in San Antonio; we had our favorite hole in the wall bar/club we frequented as well as alternate between going to someone’s house for a small get together. But it wouldn’t last for much longer if I no longer played basketball. Maybe Charlotte and a couple of others would still hang out with me. I just had this feeling that I would be moving again.

It would’ve been nice if that feeling was moving to Kentucky. I told myself I would stop thinking about it; me getting married to Darren. I couldn’t help it sometimes. I tried to think: what do I have to do to get him to change his mind? The problem was that I did everything for him. So, I **couldn’t** think of anything else he would want!

I loved him, still. So, as I said, things didn’t change. If I had the time, I spent a few days with him and vice versa. We talked every single day. And we had sex every time we saw each other! If he was at my place, the girls knew not to expect to see me unless it was during practice, a meeting or a game!

I found myself yet again making out, edging with my boyfriend. Ever since we stop using protection, those sessions didn’t last as long as before. We got each other too heated and would end up making love about twice a day! So, they almost always started in the bedroom. That’s where we were as Darren trailed slow kisses from my neck to my chest. I wiggled and squirmed, anticipating every touch. I expected for it to end but I gasped as he continued past my navel and to my hips. Wait… was he… I stiffened. His lips were at my inner thigh when he noticed and looked up at me.

“What… what’s wrong? You’re not… on, are you?” he asked with the cutest but confused look on his face. I shook my head.

“No. Darren…”

“Nothing going on down there I need to be aware of?”

“… No…”

“And you’re clean; we just got out the shower.”

“W-W-Wait…” I stopped him right before his head disappeared between my legs.

“What’s the problem? Wait… no one’s ever gone down on you, before…?” his eyes widened. Not in this new life, no! But, he didn’t need to know all of the details! I just shook my head and he smirked. “Poor baby…” he gave me no time to further protest. Darren pinned my legs to the bed and lapped at my slit. A powerful jolt did a sprint run from my toes to my spine and I arched my back, followed by an embarrassed, loud whimper. After that? Everything went blank!

I didn’t snap out of it until he stopped suddenly. I was panting and wondered why he did! That’s when I heard the doorbell. I tried to calm my heart as I looked at the time; it was late. Everyone knew not to come by the house that late… unless it was an emergency. The first person I thought of was Charlotte; she probably needed to hide from Martin’s wife… again. They’d been caught before but the woman had no idea that it was Charlotte messing with her husband!

Darren let out a grumble and went back to pleasuring me. His tongue continued to feel around my swollen clit; I had no idea how many times he made me orgasm! I didn’t blackout this time around and enjoyed the sensation of his tongue tracing over my overly wet slit. The moment he started to dart his tongue in, the knocking started. Darren’s grumble was louder and he popped up, sighing.

“Guess we have to deal with her…” even **he** knew it was Charlotte! I wanted to throw a tantrum but was afraid that the longer I stayed, the more and louder she would knock. I yanked on some shorts and a tank top then hurried to the door. Of course, the knocking became frantic.

“Jesus Christ, Char; hold on!” I yelled and opened the door. Oh… not Charlotte! Jackson stood there with an odd seductive smile. I tried to follow his eyes and realized that he was staring at my nipples that were poking through the shirt. I folded my arms across my chest; that got his eyes back where they needed to be!

“Jazzy! Thank God, you’re home! I am so… fucked up; can I crash here?” he was slurring and wobbly. I never thought that he had a drinking problem; I knew that he would get in trouble in a few years for driving drunk. Maybe I was supposed to save others from making dumb mistakes?

Either way; he wasn’t lying! Even if he hadn’t said a word, I could smell everything that he drunk! I looked back and saw that Darren was leaning on the frame going towards the back of the house; he tried so hard not to laugh. I rolled my eyes and looked back at Jackson.

“Jay, Darren’s here-”

“I only wanna sleep this off; I won’t bother ya’ll. Put me on the couch; I don’t give a fuck! I don’t think I can drive any further…” he begged. He was right; I was expecting him to topple over any minute. How in the hell did he make it to my house?! I sighed and moved out the way to let him in. Jackson stumbled towards the couch and plopped down on it.

It didn’t matter that he was in a drunken stupor. Or that Darren was in the room with us. I couldn’t help thinking how sexy the man was. I looked away before any more of those thoughts entered my head.

“Need anything?” I wanted to at least make sure that he would be comfortable before we went back to our business! Jackson gave me a smirk but his eyes were squinted; something that reminded me of how Allen would look whenever he was drunk out of his fucking skull!

“You come over here and I’ll show you what I need…” he slurred and grabbed at his crotch. My eyes widened as I blushed but Darren went into stitches. Jackson looked over at him and lost his smirk. “Shit… didn’t know you were there. My bad.” I suppose that was his apology. I grumbled as I turned to go into the kitchen. Water. He needed some water.

“It’s okay. She’s getting you some water.”

“Can I get something to eat, too, Jazzy?”

“The fuck? I am not McDonald’s!!”

“Jasmine!” Darren warned but laughed. I grumbled and decided to fix him a sandwich. The two decided to talk while I did so.

“You know… it was s’posed to be me and Jazzy, right?”

“Yeah? What happened with that?”

“I dunno,” Jackson slurred. Darren laughed a little. “Muthafucker, don’t laugh! All I know is… I’m jealous. I admitted that tonight.” he finished. OH! I wanted to run out of the kitchen and say: HA! I **knew** it! I continued to fix his sandwich.

“Nothing to be jealous of, Jackson. I treat her the way she’s supposed to be treated.”

“Hmph. You a good man, Dee. Cuz, my sweetheart could’ve had anyone and she chose you,” yeah, anyone but you. Jackson always called me sweetheart but it was the first time I heard him put some sort of claim to me. It was enough to make me blush profusely. “I see why, now. But let me tell you something. If you ever hurt my Jazzy in **any** way, I will fuck you up!”

“I won’t.” I could tell that Darren was stifling another laugh. It quieted down for a moment and I wondered if Jackson just nodded off.

“… She a sexy lil’ thing, though…”

“Mmm, don’t I know it…” Darren agreed. I was completely flustered when I came back. I handed Jackson his food and drink.

“Ah, thank you so much. I owe you, Jazzy.”

“Just… don’t worry about it. It’s what friends do, right?”

“Yeah…”

I could kill Darren; he did any and every thing in his power to make sure Jackson heard us! I knew why; the blatant flirting and confession had gone to his head. I couldn’t really complain; the wild sex was delicious! It made me look forward to more!

I usually would’ve been sleep right alongside him but something kept me up. I had to check on Jackson. I had never seen him that drunk before; I guess I expected some sort of off key singing or loud noises. I heard nothing and it bothered me. I put on the same shorts and tank top then went to check on him.

I covered my mouth to keep from laughing out loud. Jackson was passed out on the couch in the most uncomfortable position ever. The glass of water seemed untouched; the only evidence that there was a sandwich were a bit of crumbs. I shook my head and decided to try to get him more comfortable.

When I started to take his shoes off, it worried me that he didn’t move at all. A good thing he was passed out in my house; anyone else would’ve robbed him! I thought about waking him so he could take his jacket off. But, fireworks could’ve gone off three inches in front of him and he would still be dead to the world! I took a deep breath as I straddled him; it was the only way to get his jacket off.

I should’ve let him be. No sooner had my knees sank in the couch, I was grabbed and roughly groped. I opened my mouth to say something but Jackson pinned me against him and grinded. Just before I was about to give him a good punch to the stomach, his body grew limp; the little scene was over before it began, really.

“Can’t even… get on hard. Sorry I… brought you here…” he slurred and immediately started snoring. I rose and tried my best not to laugh once again. He was drunk dreaming! I moved from his lap, before he could do anything else and tried to put him in a better position (easier said than fucking done, let me tell you about dead weight…). After a long fought battle, I put a blanket over him and went back to the bedroom. The one thing that made me flustered: I couldn’t stop thinking how turned on I was when he grabbed me… and wondered how it would’ve felt had he been coherent.


	9. Confront

He probably sensed the arousal on me; Darren left in the morning but not before screwing my brains out once more. Again, he was probably still running on the fumes that someone else was attracted to his woman and was only a few feet away. I honestly wasn’t buying his excuse of him making sure I got pregnant!

Jackson left a bit later. There were no words except him mumbling a thank you and that he’d see me later. I didn’t see or speak to him until a whole week later. I didn’t blame him; he probably remembered that he confessed about his jealousy and was embarrassed about it. I would’ve been; I think I would’ve moved! But, just as he had done in the beginning of our friendship, I bugged him until he finally came back to the house.

It was a bit early but I was already showered and fixing breakfast as Jackson sat at the dining room table. I gave him a plate and sat beside him with mine.

“Thanks. Jazzy… what the fuck happened…?”

“Hmm?” I had no idea what he was talking about. He shook his head slightly.

“Last week. What happened?”

“Ha; how should I know? You were all kinds of fucked up when you came banging on my door!” I laughed. Jackson stopped eating and looked at me.

“You… you wasn’t with me in the club last week…?”

“No!”

“Which means… we didn’t make out on your couch, then…” he mumbled. It was the first time I had ever seen him blush and I nearly choked on my food from laughing.

“Not with Darren here! You don’t remember talking to him that night?”

“Ah… at least **that** really happened! I might of… said some things I shouldn’t have said…”

“I’m not worried about that. I’m trying to figure out who you were trying to screw that night; whoever it was must be awfully pissed at you!” I laughed even more. Jackson finally joined me and shook his head.

“Hell, I thought it was you!”

“Is that why you’ve been ignoring me this whole week? You thought we did something that we shouldn’t have?”

“… Yeah…”

“You should’ve just talked to me, Jackson. Then you would’ve found out that the only thing you did was grope me in your sleep!” I decided to tell him the truth. I saw that he had smirked at first but then his eyes widened at my last sentence.

“Jesus Christ; you didn’t tell the white boy that, did you?”

“Why do you always refer to him as that?! Racist ass…” I shook my head and sipped my coffee. “No, I didn’t.” I finished. Jackson sighed and looked down at his plate.

“Okay. I’m… sorry about that. Guess that’s why I thought we did something.”

“So, it’s true that drunk folks tell the truth. I heard everything you told Darren. You lied to me. You said that I wasn’t your type…” I eyed him. Jackson sighed and then looked at me fully.

“I didn’t lie… fully. I’ve never been attracted to short women. So, technically, you’re not my type.” he paused. My heart pounded in my chest. All this time, had he been attracted to me…? I cleared my throat to keep my heart steady.

“But?”

“But then… you are. Charlotte was so hell bent on selling you to me, I knew that she was on to something. And when I saw you, I was glad I was right. You were everything she said you were and then some. It was just… I was fooling around a lot back then and I didn’t want to just, you know, add you to that list of women I had. If we would’ve done what I wanted to when we first met, I was pretty sure that would’ve happened!” he smirked. Oh… he **did** want to screw my brains out that night! Well, shit…

“Gaddamnit, Jack; what made you think that I would’ve cared back then?” before I could stop it, the words flew out my mouth. I blushed and bit my lip as he started to smirk.

“Is that right? You wanted to fuck me that night…?” that sexy look was in full effect; he would never know how it made me press my thighs together to keep my groin from buzzing! I had to look away, for sanity’s sake.

“I… did.” my face was burning. When Jackson chuckled, I blushed harder; this wasn’t funny, damnit!

“Hmm. As much as I didn’t want to add you to the list… you should’ve said something. If only you were assertive…”

“W-What? I **am** assertive! I’m not gonna push myself on a man who doesn’t want me.” I defended. Another thoughtful hum came from him. That was when I realized that he had my hand in his.

“To think how our relationship would’ve gone had you just jumped my bones! Or at least told me the truth…” he slowly traced my fingers with his own, sending chills throughout my body. That… that wasn’t a friendly hold. I shot a look at him and if that first sexy look didn’t knock the wind out of me, this new one did! He started to lean closer to me, so close that I could definitely smell his cologne. He smelled magnificent! It took a moment for me to gather my senses. When I did, I backed away from him.

“W-W-Wait; what the he-” I realized that I may have tried too hard to get away from him; I fell out of my chair. Jackson caught me but not in time and we both tumbled to the floor. I couldn’t help but to laugh at the whole situation!

“Shit… think we just broke the chair. You okay?”

“I think I sprained my pride! Oh, my God, Jackson; what were you trying to do?!”

“Kiss you…?”

“… W-W-Why?!”

“I don’t have a clear answer for that. Because I want to? Ever since I laid my eyes on you, I wanted to? You’re making this harder than it seems… in more ways than one…” he simply looked at me. I noticed that he was being literal; Jackson was pressed against me and I could feel his semi-hard cock on my leg. He was, ah, a bit larger than Darren; I shamefully tingled at the feeling.

“Y-You can’t kiss me, Jack. We can’t do this…” yeah, I sounded **so** convincing! I couldn’t ignore the tingling or the fact that I really didn’t mind him being on top of me. No; what was I thinking? I was Darren’s.

“We shouldn’t. But, you want to…”

“Jackson, get off me!” my voice trembled. It was a painful flashback. My heart thudded as I pleaded in my mind. I was thirteen again, pinned to the gym floor. Those words, the same ones that haunted me for years afterwards. I shook uncontrollably but this time around, I was ready to fight.

Jackson blinked but immediately got up. He gave me a confused look as I tried to control my breathing.

“… Jazzy, I…” his eyes widened. “N-No. I wasn’t going to… force you…” he tried. I shook my head.

“I… I need you to leave…”

“Bu-”

“ **Leave**!” my tears sprung out. It wasn’t going to happen again. I would scream bloody murder! I didn’t look at him but I knew that he got up eventually and left. The only thing I knew to do was cry. I needed someone to talk to but I had no idea who. My phone was on the table and I dialed the first number available.

“… Jasmine…?”

“H-Hey. Um, yeah. Is this… is this a bad time?”

“Oh, no. Well, yeah; I’m at work…”

“That’s… that’s right. I can call you later or…”

“No, no, no! I’m sneaking away now. What’s wrong? You sound… honestly, you sound like shit!” Allen said. I tried so hard not to cry. But the more I held it in, the more it tried to force its way out. I finally sobbed but covered my mouth. “Jasmine? Are you… crying? What happened? What’s wrong?”

“I’m sorry; I’m so sorry! I was… about to have a panic attack and I just… needed someone to talk to.” I cried. I fucked up. I should have never fell in love with Darren. I should’ve dropped everything and went back to Allen.

“… I’m right here for you, Jasmine…”

He didn’t need to know the whole truth; that Jackson’s words were identical to what Ivan had told me before he raped me. But, I felt a thousand times better after talking to him. We did keep in touch after the first time I spoke to him and Allen heeded my words. His superiors that were giving him a hard time were transferred and demoted after he skipped the chain of command and complained to the much higher ups. He stopped depending on liquor to get him through his rough times and was on his way to making a career out of the Navy. After we talked for an hour, I found out that he was engaged to get married the next year. As jealous as I wanted to be, I was actually happy to hear that.

I didn’t know if I wanted to speak to Jackson or not. If anything, he tried to make a move on me, knowing that I was taken. So that got me a bit upset. But I knew that he would never rape me. Deep down, I liked how he felt against me. I just panicked at those words…

I didn’t want to linger around the house so I decided to step out. I should’ve called Charlotte but thought that maybe she would be out already. As I looked around the club, there were no one but vaguely familiar regulars. I shrugged and planted myself at the bar.

Drinking by yourself is never a great idea. Especially after having an episode with your best friend. I lost count of how many drinks I had; someone familiar smelling sat next to me.

“You’re not answering your phone…” it was Jackson. I gave him a lazy look. He was a bit out of focus so I knew that I maybe had a bit too much!

“Didn’t hear it ring…” I didn’t lie. I took it out of my pocket and sure enough, I had quite a few missed calls. “Sorry!”

“Can we talk about what happened earlier?”

“Nope.”

“… Fair enough. Can I at least talk you out of not getting another drink?”

“Heh; nope! I’ll like to see you try **that** one!” I dared. I think I was slurring; it was possible. If I couldn’t see straight, then I was sure I had the other signs of being drunk off my ass.

“Ki-Ki, no more refills for this one. If she tries, go get Greg.” Jackson ordered. I huffed; Greg was the owner and someone you didn’t fuck with. Ki-Ki was the bartender and I suspected one of Jackson’s casual flings. She gave me a water instead and I reluctantly drank it.

He found out that I was serious about not wanting to talk about things. But I knew that he figured out the gist of it. Especially when he assured me over and over again that he would never force me to do anything. I didn’t remember much after that. Before I knew it, I was being carried to my house. At least things stopped spinning; the water had done me good. Jackson placed me on the couch and I just looked at him. I thought about what he had said earlier: what type of relationship would we have had I been assertive? I wanted to screw him that first night and the feeling was still there as I looked at him then. Before he moved, I decided to show him that I was indeed assertive and kissed him.

“Jaz-” was all I let him say before covering his mouth once more. He moaned before pulling away. “… You’re drunk…” he sighed out. That realization made me sober up a bit.

“Yeah. I’m sorry,” I apologized. Feeling like a fool helped sober me up a bit more. But Jackson stayed close to me; he didn’t move an inch. “So, if I was sober…”

“We’d already be naked…” he gave me a grin. I couldn’t help laughing at that! “I know that you’re with Darren. But, if this is going to happen, I want you sober. I don’t want you having any regrets when you wake up. And I don’t have sex with drunk women; that’s… that’s just asking for trouble!”

“So… when I wake up, we’ll have sex?” I asked. For the most part, I was joking and I was glad that he laughed.

“Okay, I think that’s enough out of you! That’s the cue for you to lay down…”

“I guess you’re right. Carry me?” while the room wasn’t spinning, I definitely didn’t feel like stumbling in front of him. Jackson sighed a bit before carrying me into the bedroom.

“I think you’re taking advantage of me.” he smirked.

“Maybe.” I threw my arms around him and tried again for a kiss. Jackson put his hands on the side of my head, locking me in place.

“As much as I really, really want you to kiss me… no. When you sober up and you still want to kiss me? I won’t stop you. Goodnight, Jazzy.” he smirked and planted a tender kiss on my forehead. It was for the best. Drinking and Jackson’s presence was a dangerous combo!


End file.
